Odd co-incidences between books?

Have you ever spotted odd co-incidences between books? Try this one:

A young woman who feels isolated has a vampire, the son of a vampire family, fixate on her because he can't read her mind. The vampire's sister tells him repeatedly that he's an idiot and that's not a good basis for a relationship, and also that he should stop holding back and just bite her if he's so fascinated.

Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer published 2005? Nope: Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett published 1998. I suppose it's the mark of a truly great satirist that he can lampoon something that hasn't been written yet .

Are there any other odd simularities between books you've spotted?

 

I'd never spotted that. Now I'll have to dig out my books and re-read them with Agnes instead of Bella.

 

Pratchett would have made mincemeat out of the Twilight series if he had ever set his mind to it.

 

The one that keeps being mentioned is "Futility; or the wreck of the Titan". A giant ship crashes into an iceberg at twenty-two knots and begins to sink. There are two few lifeboats on board. It was not inspired by the Titanic, as it was written in 1898.

The more eerie coincidence happened in 1935 in real life. William Reeves was on a steamship travelling to Canada in April at night. He was nervous already as he had been reading a copy of "the wreck of the Titan". It was the the night of April 14th - April 15th, the anniversary of the day the Titanic sank and his birthday - he'd been born the day of the sinking. He thought about how the Titanic's lookouts had not seen the iceberg ahead and couldn't stop himself shouting a warning even thought he saw nothing ahead. The steamship came to a stop barely away from an iceberg directly in its path.

The ship's name was Titanian.

(What that story always misses out is that the Titanian already had a very unfortunate reputation, and was dubbed a Modern Flying Dutchman by the press just four months earlier. I would have been worried if I were on that ship.)